The present invention relates to tone arm control systems for record disk players, and particularly to a variable speed tone arm control system which drives the tone arm at variable speeds as a function of distance to a desired record track.
Tone arms of the manually operated, pivotally movable type require the exercise of great care when handling the tone arm to prevent the record surface from being scratched with the sharp edge of the pickup stylus. For this reason, key-operated tone arm control systems have hitherto been developed, whereby the tone arm is driven by a power source when a particular function key is operated. Laterally driven type tone arms have been developed using the key-operated drive system because of their excellent tracking performance as compared with the pivotally driven type. In such conventional key-operated drive system, the tone arm is driven at a preset constant speed. If the preset speed is relatively low and the desired track is remotely located from the tone arm, the time necessary to reach that track is substantial. On the other hand, if the preset speed is relatively high, the tone arm tends to overrun the intended position under its own momentum, resulting in a difficulty in achieving accurate positioning.